


The Mockingbird of Whitestone

by HappiKatt



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: ALSO SPOILERS FOR LIKE EVERYTHING POTENTIALLY, Canon-Typical Violence, Discussion of Major Character Death, F/M, Gen, I don't wanna spoil the surprise, If I Forgot Something, Illustrated, Implied Sexual Content, Maybe - Freeform, Or make the tags too long, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pike/Scanlan but its not the focus, Team as Family, basically this fic is just, festival gets crashed by uninvited guest(s), ok maybe not that bad but just to be safe, other characters to be added later, shenanigans ensue, unhealthy grieving mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-11-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 08:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15926963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappiKatt/pseuds/HappiKatt
Summary: Twenty years later, Vox Machina–or as much of it as can get to Whitestone at the time–reunite. It’s not their first time doing so, and they don’t plan on it being the last. It should just be another reunion.But something completely unexpected throws everything into chaos, and leaves Vex’ahlia struggling with emotions she’d thought buried, and Percy trying to piece together the fragments of a very confusing puzzle.





	1. The Visitor

**Author's Note:**

> gnomes goblins and firbolgs have tails and i cannot be convinced otherwise 
> 
> that's all i have to say here please enjoy

He’d dealt with his share of broken watches, but this one was…interesting. Everything looked fine—the gears sitting strong and unbroken, yet refusing to turn, the winding tool equally pristine yet unbudging. At an easy glance, everything seemed perfectly normal, and yet, some unknown piece of the puzzle was keeping it from working. It was always something tiny in cases like these, he was sure. He drew in closer and squinted, maneuvering the tool in hand to gently lever up one of the gears, knowing with an intense certainty that it had to be something simple that he’d missed, some piece of sand that’d gotten caught in just the wrong place, or a tiny piece of gadgetry misplaced or broken or missing altogether—

A pair of hands on his shoulders pulled Percy out of his reverie. The gentle grip tugged him back, tilting his chair onto its back legs and causing him to tilt his own head back to see Vex’ahlia’s teasing smile. “Percy,” Vex said, peering down at him with a twinkle in her eye, “If you glare at that watch any harder, I’m afraid it’s going to catch fire.” 

Percy snorted. Vex let the chair settle all four legs back down onto the carefully maintained stones of Whitestone’s town square. Percy looked away as Vex draped herself across his shoulders, her chin now tucked against his neck. “I’m not—glaring at it, dear, I’m just very focused. Whatever’s going wrong with the thing is subtle enough that it’s hard to pinpoint, so—“ 

“Darling,” she said, in a low, sweet voice by his ear that, even twenty years into their marriage, still made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, “You’re not supposed to be _working,_ you’re supposed to be relaxing.” She pressed a kiss to his cheek and stood up, pulling away. “There’s a festival on tomorrow, our friends will be here any moment, and you’re here fussing over a watch? Really, Percy.” 

She took a moment to stretch, and Percy took a moment to take in the view. The world seemed to frame a perfect backdrop for her— a light breeze stirring the loose half-cloak draped around her shoulders and the skirts of her pale blue dress. The day was bright and clear, and, despite the patches of snow still visible here and there on the ground, much of the plant life was starting to show new patches of green. The Sun Tree in particular had already sprouted enough buds and early blooms to cause a perpetual soft rain of petals in the town square, some of which drifted past Vex’ahlia, one or two catching in her hair. Not for the first time Percy found himself quietly struck by how lucky he was to have this—a moment of peace in his town, rebuilt and recovering after the harm once done to it, decades ago, and a woman he sometimes still couldn’t believe he was married to…

He shook his head. “That’s exactly why I’m fussing with the watch, dear,” he said. “They’re _late_ , and if I don’t keep myself busy somehow, I’ll drive myself mad with impatience! I mean, really, we’ve only been planning to meet up for weeks.” 

“They’ll be here,” Vex chided. 

“They were _supposed_ to be here half an hour ago. I made everyone a bloody watch but it’s apparently not enough—this is the trouble, you know, with depending on the druid for travel, because then if she’s late, so is everybody else—“

“I take it back. You were right, Percy, you should just stick with fiddling with the watch.” The affection in her voice robbed it of any sting the gentle teasing might’ve had otherwise. “Being a clockmaker’s made you so obsessed with punctuality, dear, you may really have a problem.” 

He sighed, carefully putting away the watch and his tools, brushing a few errant petals off his coat. “It’s not—I just miss them, honestly. It seems they’ve all been busy with things so often lately. It’s a shame poor Tary couldn’t make it, but at the very least we can get the rest of the family all together in one place for once.” He stood up, intending to walk over her, but paused with a wince as a shooting pain lanced up one of his legs. He leaned on the table, grimacing, before standing up the rest of the way. Noting Vex’s slightly worried expression, he threw up a hurried smile, and said, “Augh, that’s a twinge. Oof.” 

“Your knees again?” she asked, eyes bright with concern.

“Nothing too serious, I think, just the usual stiffness. You know, sometimes I wonder if it was the sixth or seventh dragon that did it.”

He’d hoped the joke would lighten the mood enough to soothe any worries, but Vex frowned.At the very least, she chose to change the subject rather than put up any sort of fuss. “I don’t suppose you know where the kids are?” she asked. “I saw Trissa and Leo pestering—sorry, _helping—_ some of the traveling merchants, but I’ve no idea where the rest are.” 

“Well, I think Crispin is hanging out with his friends somewhere, and Arthur was tagging along with Cassandra last I saw him. Tiff’s right over there, though,” he said, pointing towards the Sun Tree with a grin. 

Vex’ahlia looked, and then bent over with a quiet “Oh, no,” buried under a laugh. 

“At this point, Trinket may in fact be the most patient bear in the world,” Percy said, moving to her side, arms folded loosely. “Certainly, he’s the most fashionable.”

There, under the Sun Tree, lay the huge bear. He was, with some very obvious displeasure, allowing Percy and Vex’s three year old daughter to climb all over him as she weaved flowers and ribbons into his fur. He made no attempt to stop her—having gone through sharing his home with a toddler four times before this, he knew it was a futile endeavor—but he still turned toward the sound of Vex’s voice and let out a low, despairing moan full of the deep, existential anguish only a bear beset by an excitable toddler can ever truly know. 

 

 

“She’s been at it for the better part of an hour,” Percy grinned.

“Tiffany, darling, what are you doing over there?” Vex called. “Are you making Trinket pretty for the festival?”

Tiffany perked up at her mother’s voice, seemed to seriously contemplate the question for a moment, and then nodded and said, “Yeah!” 

The bear let out another soulful moan and rested his head on the pavement. 

“Ohh, I know, buddy, I know, you’re so patient.” Vex giggled and leaned on Percy slightly. “Oh, gods, honestly, he could just stand up and tip her off without hurting her, I don’t know why he just takes it.” 

“However will he survive the embearassment,” Percy said, receiving a swat on the arm and a laugh for his efforts. 

They’d been standing side by side for a few minutes, idly chatting and occasionally tossing little Tiff a few words of encouragement, when Cassandra walked into the square and made a beeline towards them, Arthur following after with all the forced gravitas an eight year old could muster. 

“They’re not here yet?” she asked, looking a bit harried. She’d been working hard on getting everything ready for the Renewal Festival, and it showed; Percy and Vex had tried to take some of the weight off her shoulders, but she’d insisted on doing the bulk of the work herself—not exactly unusual for her, really, but Percy still worried. 

Vex shook her head. “Not yet, much to Percy’s chagrin.” 

Cassandra pursed her lips, huffing out a frustrated breath. “Well, hopefully they get here soon. I might have a bit of a job for you all before we get too comfortable with celebrating. One of the guards just told me that someone reported seeing bluecoats in the old cemetery.” 

Percy groaned. “Oh, gods, again? I thought for sure we cleared the little devils out last year.” 

“They might be back,” Cassandra said. “No one’s been stung yet, and I’ve yet to confirm anything in any case, but I’d really like to avoid a repeat of last summer.” 

“And us with a town full of visitors for the festival who won’t know how dangerous they are,” said Vex, folding her arms. “Thank the gods Keyleth’s coming. If anyone can convince a damn mess of hornets to move elsewhere, it’s an archdruid.” 

“Might not hurt to warn people to see a cleric straight away if they are stung, just in case,” Percy said. “We very nearly had a couple folks die last year who didn’t know any better.” 

“When is Aunt Keyleth and the others gonna be here?” Arthur said, demonstrating his usual complete lack of interest in ‘adult talk.’ 

Percy rolled his eyes fondly. “Well, they should have been here—ah, speak of the devil, finally!”

With a familiar groan of ancient wood splitting apart, the Sun Tree opened up into the familiar tunnel. It was followed by an extremely unnecessary bellow and the sound of stampeding footsteps. Vex and Percy shared a look as Arthur’s face split into a grin. Grog stampeded through, narrowly avoiding knocking Arthur over, several bags in his arms and two gnomes clinging to his shoulders, Scanlan yelling in mock terror, Pike laughing helplessly. Keyleth stepped sedately through the portal a moment later, just before it closed. 

“Yeah!!” Arthur cheered, as Grog skidded to a stop. Grog threw up his arms, full as they were, and bellowed in response, accidentally dislodging Scanlan in the process. 

“Ow!!” said Scanlan, full of mock ruined pride more than any real pain, as Arthur and Grog both laughed. Pike slid down and landed nimbly on her feet as Scanlan launched into an exaggerated tirade against Grog, sending Arthur into stitches. 

Keyleth and Pike, however, both spotted Percy and Vex and beelined toward them, and the ensuing hugs drained out all of Percy’s frustration in an instant. Nevertheless, if only for the look of things, he adopted his most exasperated tone as he asked, “What bloody took you all so long? We were expecting you almost an hour ago!” 

Pike rolled her eyes. “Sorry, we had to deal with a very serious discussion about whether or not Grog’s too old and creaky to be the team tough guy anymore. Scanlan teased him about his beard going gray, and Grog took it way too personally, and they ended up arguing until Grog insisted on proving that he’s still just as tough as ever.” 

“Is that why he came running in like a bat out of the hells?” said Vex.

“Yup,” said Keyleth. “Demanded we all hand over all our bags and that the gnomes climb on. I think he wanted to carry me, too, but there was literally no room, so he made up for it by running through.” 

Vex covered her face, shaking with mirth. “Gods, I’ve missed you all,” she said. 

“Oy, Percy, I think you got a bit of a limpet problem,” Grog said. He stomped over, making a big show out of every step, with Arthur clinging excitedly to the goliath’s massive foot. “This one’s got real big and reeal clingy. Gonna need a great big scraper to get this ‘un off.” Arthur was beside himself with giggles.

Percy eyed Grog. “Well, maybe if you all weren’t late, he wouldn’t be quite so clingy!” 

“I came as fast as I could!” Grog whined, the bags sagging. “I ran all the way here!” 

“We noticed.” 

A bark of laughter echoed behind Grog. For a moment, Percy thought it was aimed at his joke, but no; Scanlan had noticed Trinket’s predicament. Trinket, devastated at his complete and total humiliation, covered his face with his paws and moaned. 

Tiffany, however, was…well, normally she would have run over with Arthur, now that Percy thought about it, but she was staring intently at some distant point in the opposite direction. For just a moment, he thought he spotted a flash of movement that way himself, but before he could comment, Keyleth spoke up and the thought quickly fled his mind, only to be remembered much later. 

“Tiff!” Keyleth shouted, bouncing on the balls of her feet and waving. “Tiff, hey, over here!” 

Tiffany turned with a quiet “huh?” Upon spotting Keyleth, the little girl’s face split into a huge grin and she ran full force at Keyleth. “Aun’ Kiki!!” 

Keyleth swooped the little girl up into her arms, chattering excitedly back and forth with her as Tiffany proceeded to say hello to the rest of her ‘aunts’ and ‘uncles’ in turn. 

(For a moment, a piece of Percy that stubbornly refused to die reflected on the aunts and uncles she’d never get to meet—Percy’s own siblings who ever got to meet his new, adoptive family, and also…But thoughts like that weren’t productive at times like this. Better to celebrate the family they had with them right now than spend time hating the empty spaces in the lineup. Nothing good came of dwelling on that for too long.) 

Cassandra, who’d been holding back initially, stepped forward. “Sorry to interrupt, and to bother you the moment you get here, Keyleth—“

“Whahuh?” Keyleth said, having been midway through intense conversation with the three year old still in her arms about the huuuge butterfly Tiffany had seen that morning. 

“We’ve, ah, possibly got an infestation of some particularly nasty hornets that Cass wants to deal with before anyone gets hurt,” said Percy. “They can be deadly, unfortunately, but the poison takes long enough to kick in that most people don’t realize the danger of getting stung until they’re sick enough that treating it becomes costly. Think you could, maybe…” 

“Oh! Oh, sure, yeah, no problem,” said Keyleth, setting Tiffany down. “Lead the way, Percy!” 

“If you two are headed off, then, I think I should try and find the rest of the kids,” Vex said. “Shall we meet back here?” 

“Me, too, Mommy!” Tiff piped up, reaching her hands up. 

“I don’t see why not. It’s a nice day out, and some of the traveling merchants and entertainers have been setting up shop early,” said Percy. “We might as well enjoy the rest of the day.” 

Grog shifted uncomfortably. His arms were still full of everyone’s bags, and however much he may have liked to deny it, the silver streaks through his beard made no secret of the fact that he was starting to feel his age at least as much as Percy was. “I mean, I wouldn’t mind…stopping by the castle, just for a few minutes,” he mumbled, which, for him, meant it was still pretty loud, all things considered. 

“Oh, just put the bags down, you big goof,” said Pike. Grog shrugged and, with no ceremony whatsoever, dropped everything. 

 

* * *

Vex had seen her fair share of Renewal Festivals, but she had to admit, Whitestone’s were something very special. Granted, you only needed to endure one Whitestone winter, trapped indoors by the biting cold and heavy snows, huddling close to the fire and braving the outdoors only when no other option remained, to understand why—the entire town was desperate for the onset of spring by the time the thaws came. Still, it was always a delight; the festival wasn’t truly considered to start until tomorrow, yet already people were celebrating. Everywhere one looked, there’d be a makeshift band practicing out in front of a tavern, with a handful of people dancing along, or a pair of kids running around and laughing through the streets, perhaps someone airing out their best clothes now that it wasn’t too cold to open a window. She understood that it had previously been a much more insular celebration, of course, back when Whitestone was more isolated, but these days, with Percy and Cassandra working hard to maintain communications with and open roads to Emon and Westrun, a number of traveling merchants and performers always stopped by to help grow the celebrations even further. Many were still setting up booths and claiming their bits of the street, but some were already settled in, displaying wares or sending delicious smells through the pleasantly warm air.

Somewhere amongst them, she knew, were two of her children, but so far, even with Tiffany and Trinket’s help, they’d yet to spot them. Of course, Tiffany was too distracted by just about everything, constantly pointing and cooing from her perch on Trinket’s back, to really be helping. Vex’ahlia kept her eyes and ears open, nodding along with her daughter’s babbling without really listening, looking instead for Trissa and Leo—they’d be together, no doubt, as they always were, and probably up to trouble. At thirteen and twelve respectively, they were the closest of the children in age as well as just being generally attached at the hip, ever reminiscent of…

Well, they were very close, in any case. 

After a bit of searching, finally, she spotted the pair amongst a trio of tabaxi. Two were lounging on the opposite side of the street from her children, apparently taking a break from practicing for some sort of act and enjoying a kettle of tea between them. The third was a younger girl with golden tabby markings who couldn’t have been much older than Crispin’s sixteen. She had all of Trissa and Leo’s rapt attention, shuffling and carefully twirling and twisting a set of cards between her fingers. One of the older tabaxi, a brown one with faint spots and tufted ears, called out a word of encouragement. The other one was more reddish in color, a little older and a lot surlier, grumbling into his cup and getting an elbow to the ribs for whatever harsh comment he’d made. 

Vex stood back and watched the girl perform for a moment, amused and curious. The girl was explaining the meaning of the cards to her enraptured audience, twirling each one with a flourish before tucking it back into the deck. She stumbled in her delivery, however, upon glancing up and spotting Trinket. The other two Tabaxi were similarly startled, the older one climbing up onto his chair in surprise. 

“Oh, he’s harmless, don’t worry,” said Vex to the adults, and then, turning to the girl, added, “Please don’t stop on my account.” She smiled her most winning smile. “I’ll have to take my children away in just a moment here, I’m afraid, but we can spare a few more minutes.” 

“Aww, mooom,” Leo groaned, at the same instant that Trissa cried, “What? Why?” 

“Because our guests are here, Trissa. We’re going to need to track down Crispin, too, Arthur’s already with them.” 

“O-oh, I didn’t mean to—We’re just, just messing around,” the tabaxi girl stammered, her prior confidence vanished. “You can—I won’t keep them.” 

“But Mom, she says she can tell the future with her cards, and I wanna see her do it!” said Leo.

“Yeah, they’re really weird, one’s got a fiend on it and—“ 

“They’re, they don’t…telling the future’s not exactly what I said,” the girl said. 

Vex sighed and rolled her eyes to look at the adult tabaxi, the more good-natured of whom shrugged with a smile. Turning back to the girl, she said, “Well, like I said, we have a few minutes. Why don’t you give me a reading?” 

The girl blinked. “O-oh, uh, really?” she asked, her ears twitching back nervously as she looked toward the other two. 

“Go for it, Patch!” called the brown tabaxi. 

“’S two copper,” grumbled the older one. “No freebies.” 

Vex raised an eyebrow. “That’s a bit cheaper than I expected,” she said, handing over the money. A few copper was a small cost to perhaps encourage an aspiring performer to continue on her path. She doubted there was any real fortune telling happening, but there was still an art to her craft, one that Vex could appreciate. 

Patch flicked her ears back in embarrassment. “I’m, um, I’m very new at this. This is—it’s the first time they’re letting me perform for money.” 

“Don’t tell her that!” the old one scowled. 

“Shit, shit, sorry Saph, I forgot—“ 

“Don’t worry about it, Patch! Saph, shut the hell up and let her perform, you old curmudgeon, she can do this.” The brown one grinned and raised his cup, eyes shining. 

“Hey, everyone’s got to start somewhere,” Vex said, kneeling down on the blanket Patch had acting as a cushion. “So, where do we start?” 

Patch swallowed, her fingers making the cards dance apparently without her notice. “Well, um, you…you ask me some question, and the cards will…tell me the answer, sort of.” She swallowed, struggling to regain her composure. “So, miss, um…” 

“Lady Vex’ahlia,” Vex said, and smiled a little bit more upon hearing one of the two grown tabaxi erupt into a choking cough at the title. They really must be from well out of town if the bear hadn’t been a dead giveaway as to just who she was.

Patch’s eyes widened a bit. “Right, then, L-Lady Vex’ahlia,” she said, “What questions do you have for, um, for the cards?” 

Vex tapped her lip, acting like she was considering it in detail. “Well, there’s not much I have going on right now, but…how about this: Can you give me a general feel for how this festival’s going to go this year? We’d really like for it to be a good one, but we’ve already had some hiccups. Nothing too serious, yet. Is anything else… _unexpected_ coming our way?” 

There, an easy question for a first-timer to come up with an answer for, Vex thought. Could be interesting to see how she’d respond.

Patch nodded, and then turned back to the cards, now shuffling them in earnest. This seemed to be what she was most comfortable with, the movement of the cards themselves, flashing and shifting in intricate patterns. The effect was slightly spoiled when, in the process of drawing one, she nearly dropped it, but she recovered with a slightly awkward grin, and laid out three cards, face down. 

One by one, she flipped each over, muttering to herself, “So, that’s…uhm, something, some big change or something to do with fate, hoo boy, that’s always interesting….and that’s…a person, maybe a stranger, maybe not…Um. Hm. That’s. That’s a really weird set of three, to get, um.” She tapped a finger against her chin. “So. I think what the cards have to say to that, is that you’ll have….some sort of. Fateful encounter with…with an unexpected visitor? To your festival. Someone’s coming that you didn’t expect, and it’ll…it’ll be interesting?” 

One of the tabaxi, probably the surly one, slapped a hand to their head and groaned. Vex refused to look back and see.

“A fateful encounter with an unexpected visitor, that’s exciting,” Vex said. “Do the cards say if this is to be a friendly visitor, or someone I should be worried about?” 

“Friend,” said Patch, her voice suddenly very certain. “Definitely a friend.” She blinked, and shrunk a bit, as if surprised by her own burst of confidence. “I mean,” she said, “I don’t…the cards don’t. Actually specify, but I get the feeling it’s, um, going to be a friend.” 

“That’s a relief,” said Vex. “Well, that was wonderful, young Patch!” She pressed a gold piece into the girl’s hand, giving her a wink and a grin as she stood up. “You’re very good with those cards, I’m sure that with a bit more practice you’ll have the confidence to really do well.” Patch nodded her head in an astonished gratitude, holding the coin close to her chest.

“Th-thank you,” she said, as Vex gestured for her children to get up as well. 

“Thank you for the reading,” said Vex in return. “Who knows, maybe this means Tary’ll be able to make it, after all! We were so disappointed to learn he couldn’t come—heaven knows how he’d get here without Keyleth’s help, but stranger things have happened…”

“Feh,” huffed old Saph. Then, turning in his seat, he hesitated. “What the fuck?” he spat, looking around. “Where’s the teapot?” 

“What do you mean, ‘where’s the teapot’? It’s right where you left it, you daft—wait, what the hell, it was just there a second ago…” The brown one began glancing around, too, ducking under the table and rising a moment later scratching his head. 

“I wouldn’t ask where it is if it was where I left it, Kite,” scowled Saph. “I’m tellin’ you, it’s gone! I bet one o’ you damn kids took it, hand it over!” 

“Saph, _stop—_ I’m sorry, my Lady, he’s been—we’ve been traveling a while, and he’s grouchy on a good day, your kids seem wonderful and I’m sure they’d never—“ 

Vex held up a hand. “It’s alright, thank you for that. I’m sure they wouldn’t dream of taking your nice tea pot, right?” She cast a stern eye on all three of her children. Trissa and Leo adopted expressions of pure innocence, but Tiffany surprised her by pointing toward an alley behind the two tabaxi men.

“It was the funny shadow person who did it, Mama!” she said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Didn’t you see?”

“Sure it was, kiddo,” said Saph, slouching angrily back in his seat.

“Funny shadow person?” Vex said. “What do you mean, Tiff, dear? You saw a shadow take the pot?”

Tiffany nodded. “Yeah! They’ve been doing all sorts of other stuff, too! I keep seeing them running around! They took the teapot just now, and before they were running around an’ got scared by Aun’ Kiki bringing everyone through the Sun Tree.” 

“Scared?” 

“Yeah, cuz they ran off and hid!” 

A dark shape, running into the shadows just out of view, so soon after she’d been promised an unexpected visitor and a twist of fate…She stamped the thought down, quickly. Thinking like that would only lead to unnecessary heartache. It was just the juxtaposition of a small child’s imagination and a strangely fitting fortune, that was all. 

Right? 

“Well, if we see them again, we’ll have to let them know that they’re welcome,” she said, kissing her daughter gently on the nose. “And that it’s not nice to take teapots.” 

Tiffany giggled. 

They moved on, Trissa and Leo growing more excited to see the rest of Vox Machina as they went. Finding Crispin proved easier and considerably more uneventful; he’d just been hanging out with a few other teens from town, and complained loudly at having to leave to deal with weird family stuff. Vex ignored it; she knew he was just as excited to see his adoptive aunts and uncles as any of the younger kids. 

(Most of their five children had the de Rolo’s brown hair, but Crispin’s was jet black, and he wore it long. In a ponytail, usually, but, still, he looked just enough like Vex’s brother that sometimes Vex grew very…thoughtful. 

It was nothing. She was just on edge. Maybe getting that fortune had been a mistake.) 

Trissa and Leo bolted out to greet the rest of the team when they arrived back at the square, while Crispin begrudgingly accepted a hug from Pike. Vex smiled for a moment, but it faded when she saw Keyleth and Percy returning as well, Keyleth running for her things with a grim expression.

“What’s going on?” she asked, rushing over.

“Nothing, dear, just—look, Keyleth already dealt with it, I’m fine.” He sighed and gave her a very weary look. “The report about the bluecoats was right, and one of the little bastards got me on the hand. Keyleth managed to convince the rest to leave, but it was less of a conversation and more zapping the damn nest to smithereens.” 

“I’m really sorry,” Keyleth called. “Those things are really _mean_ , though, geez.” 

“And she already—“ Vex started. 

“I cast a spell to neutralize any poison, don’t worry,” Keyleth said. “At least, Percy said that’s what was needed? It justlooked like an ordinary wasp sting, though.” 

“That’s what’s so nasty about bluecoats,” Percy grumbled. “They don’t look bad on the first day, and sometimes people shake off the poison with no trouble, but by the time you know you’ve failed to do so, it’s already gotten bad enough that treating it’s going to be really bloody expensive, so it’s best to be overcautious.” He shook his hand and hissed in a breath. “That, and it hurts way more than a bee sting should be allowed to, augh.” 

“I’ve got something that could help with that in here somewhere, hold on,” Keyleth said, tugging a smaller bag out from within her larger one. “Shoot,” she said a moment later, “I’m nearly out, I forgot to restock my herb kit.” 

“Well, what do you need, darling?” said Vex. “There’s a storehouse not too far from here. It’s…really, any herbs we have in there are going to probably be more for cooking than medicine, and they’ll be dried out to last through the winter, but it’s worth checking, at least.”

“Really, it’s fine, I don’t need—” Percy started, but Vex shushed him. 

Keyleth blew an exasperated raspberry. “I can make do, I guess,” she said. “Dried won’t be as strong, but should still get the job done. I’ve got enough here for the one sting, at least.” She rattled off a few herb names, and Vex nodded, hurrying off. 

It was as good an excuse as any to get away for a moment. She was still feeling…off. That thought that had popped into mind, when Tiffany mentioned someone slinking around in the shadows, still wouldn’t leave her mind, despite her best efforts. It…Couldn’t possibly be who she thought it was, there was no way. But…the tabaxi girl had seemed so certain, when she’d said that there would be a friend here, just for a moment, and, who knew, maybe he was stealing teapots and slinking around as one of his old jokes, preparing for some dramatic entrance, the old show-off…

She paused, mere feet away from the storehouse door, staring at the ground.

Or, more accurately, at the pair of raven feathers laying on the stones.

Which. Was perfectly explained away by the fact that the city was lousy with ravens, of course. Nothing to be surprised about. But…Now that she stopped, she realized that she could hear someone moving about in the storehouse. Despite every perfectly reasonable explanation for the list of small things that happened today that she was likely reading too much into, hope rose within her, cautiously whispering that, maybe…

Maybe he’d found a way back, somehow? Stranger things had happened, right? 

Taking a deep breath, unable to fight the smile off her face, she pulled the door open, her brother’s name on her lips—

 

 

It wasn’t Vax.

There was someone in the storeroom, certainly, but they were wholly unfamiliar. Even with their back turned, she could see that much; they were small, most of their frame hidden behind a cloak, but she could see a short, tufted tail peaking out from under it, even in the darkness, and a pair of large, tattered ears. The intruder flicked their hooded head toward her the moment the door was swung open, but in the deep shadows of the storeroom juxtaposed by the harsh light from outside, all she could make out initially of the face was a pair of huge, somewhat wide-set, bulging yellow eyes, with no visible iris and slitted red pupils. They had been rummaging in one of the crates in the storeroom, and were still holding up the lid with one hand.

It wasn’t Vax. It couldn’t be him. Judging on the height alone, nevermind the odd eyes and huge ears, it wasn’t even anything that could reasonably be called a half-elf. Her heart sank, and she forgot herself for a moment, distracted by her own sharp sorrow. She didn’t notice straight away as the intruder’s posture changed, stiffening and drawing inward, like an animal preparing to leap, didn’t notice the tattered ears sweeping back, barely registered that they were slowly setting down the lid of the crate, something clutched tightly in one hand. 

“You—“ She paused, collecting herself. It wasn’t Vax. Of course it wasn’t Vax, he’d been—he’d been dead for twenty years, it had been silly to think—“You shouldn’t be in here. This is…” 

She trailed off again, as her eyes adjusted to the difficult lighting. The creature was stepping more into the shadows, but the movement allowed just enough light to touch their face for Vex to pick out flat features accented by a set of jutting, uneven, sharp teeth. The realization of what she was talking to hit like a lightning bolt. 

Reaching instinctively for a bow she didn’t have, she cursed, and slammed the door shut, hearing the body of the creature reach it a moment later. Struggling, she held the door shut as best she could, and reached for her earring, shouting so that even without it, guards would hear, so that people would know to find their children and run for cover— 

_“Goblins!”_


	2. Old Wounds

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for reference: this is a few months ahead of time for the current campaign, spring of the year 836 (i think??) to the current episode's winter of 835. Our little guest is right about level 8, because I'm not mean enough to put her up against Vox Machina without evasion and an extra spell slot or two, you feel me

For years now, Percy and Vex had only used the earrings for simple, everyday things. Finding each other in a crowd, letting the other know that dinner was ready without having to search the entire castle. The most urgent use of it had been when a then-seven-year-old Crispin had wandered off during a trip to Emon, and that was nearly a decade past. 

It was for this reason that Percy’s initial reaction to Vex’s cry was one of confusion. The look was mirrored in his friend’s faces, as was the sinking dread as they all processed what she’d said. He saw Scanlan’s eyes take on the fierce coldness they always did whenever they’d come across goblins, saw Pike look at the children with a growing look of the same fear Percy felt, saw Keyleth take in all the visitors and civilians just passing through the town square or setting up their stands. 

Of all the worst possible settings for an attack—

“Where?” Percy said, grasping his own earring. As if his voice had been a sign, the others sprang into action, Grog and Pike rushing to fetch their weapons from respective bags. Percy pulled Tiffany off of Trinket’s back as the bear stood, and handed her off to Crispin, who’d been staring with trepidation at the adults in their sudden stillness. “Take your siblings and get into an inn, tell them to brace for a fight,” he said. 

Whitestone had learned from the Briarwoods and the Chroma Conclave. They’d made plans for future attacks, the people needed only to be alerted and they would react as needed. 

(Except they hadn’t actually needed such strategies in decades, and those strategies had assumed that the threat would come from outside, not from the very heart of the city, and they didn’t account for all these visitors, they needed more time to prepare, _how in the Nine Hells did goblins get into the heart of Whitestone—_ ) 

“There’s one in the storeroom, I’ve got it trapped!” Vex’s voice drew Percy out of his thoughts. Fuck it, they’d have to trust that those who remembered those dark times would guide those who didn’t or couldn’t. 

“I’ll stay with the kids and help direct people to safety,” Pike said, wrenching her mace free. Then, at the top of her lungs: “Everyone get inside, hurry! Keep your kids close! Goblin attack!” Crispin, who had looked ready to ask his father for a further explanation, turned white at Pike’s call and nodded mutely at Percy, grabbing Arthur by the hand and hoarsely telling the other two to stay close. 

Keyleth grabbed Percy’s arm. “I’m gonna get in the air and see if I can’t keep an eye on things, maybe signal to the guards where the rest of the attack is,” she said. 

“Right,” Percy said, “Stay safe.” She pulled away, her form effortlessly shifting into the familiar golden feathers of a giant eagle, and launched herself into the air. Percy looked to Grog and Scanlan and gestured for them to follow him; he didn’t have any weapons on him, but they didn’t know where the storeroom was, and as sure as he was that a single goblin posed no threat for Vex, even unarmed, it was never just one goblin for long. Trinket seemed to agree, the bear already rumbling past. 

The storehouse wasn’t far, but the journey was made difficult by people rushing past in a panic, despite the best efforts of one or two guards and the normal townsfolk to usher them to safely. Word was spreading quickly, it seemed. Trinket, focused purely on coming to Vex’s rescue, cleared enough of a path just by charging past that they still arrived quickly enough. 

Upon rounding the final corner, Percy spotted two guards rushing to help his wife, who was holding the door closed. Another bit of movement caught his eye, however; something small and dark was pushing itself through the small, high window on the opposite side of the storehouse from the door. 

“There!” he shouted, pointing. The creature turned two huge yellow eyes toward the sound and yelped, struggling even more to squeeze through. “It’s climbing out the window!” 

Scanlan launched a blast of lightning the goblin’s way just as it managed to slip out of the window, the bolt crashing by it harmlessly and striking the stone wall of the storehouse. The goblin scrambled to its feet and dashed in a headlong sprint down the alley, Grog and Scanlan both rushing in pursuit. The two guards who’d run to Vex stopped by her for a moment, but her angry gesture sent them joining in the chase. 

Percy grabbed Vex by the arm, trying to keep terror from turning his grip into a vice and failing entirely. “Are you hurt at all?” he asked, frantic. “Did it attack you, are you—“ 

(He’d seen the aftermath of goblin attacks. Parents devastated by watching their children dragged away screaming, houses ransacked, bodies mangled and in some cases _eaten,_ he’d seen what goblins could do to people who were caught unawares, and for everything he’d seen with his own eyes he’d heard dozens of stories about even worse deeds. In his mind he could see all of it, all the horrors and violence, superimposed over Whitestone, over the visitors, over his own children—) 

“I’ll be fucking fantastic when we’ve killed a few bloody goblins,” Vex snapped, pushing some hair out of her face. Trinket pressed his head under her free hand and moaned. “Yes, darling, I’m fine, I’m okay, it never got the chance to so much as touch me. Gods dammit, how’d the little bastards get this far in past our defenses?!” 

“I don’t know,” Percy said, “We’ll have to investigate after we’ve repelled the initial attack. Hopefully we don’t have too many casualties, but with this many strangers in town—the kids are safe, at least, they’ve got Pike with them, but—“ 

“Right, the kids,” Vex said. “I—good, that’s good. Gods, of all things to go wrong today…” 

“We should fetch Scanlan and Grog, for now, and regroup. They’ve probably dealt with the one you spotted, and we need to help the town brace for the full attack.” 

“Right,” Vex nodded. Her eyes focused and hardened. “Gods damn them for attacking when I’ve left Fenthras at home, but we can deal with that, I can make do with any bow in a pinch.” Trinket grunted his agreement.

Instead of the expected bloodbath, however, what Vex and Percy found in the intersection of two alleys was the guards scratching their heads, Grog looking disappointed, and Scanlan looking _livid._

“What’s going on?” Vex asked, looking around. 

“I dunno,” said Grog. “It got away. Not sure where it went.” 

Percy stopped and stared at the goliath. “I’m—you were outrun by a _goblin?_ ” 

“Hey.” 

Trinket sniffed the air, growling softly before lumbering toward a stack of half-broken crates someone had discarded. 

“I don’t mean to imply anything bad, Grog, I just—that’s really surprising,” Percy said, holding his hands up reassuringly. “I’m sure you’re just as fast as ever, maybe you just got unlucky.” 

“To be fair, it was a pretty damn quick little runt,” Scanlan grumbled. “Probably got spooked and ran off to rejoin the rest of them.” 

“Trinket, darling, don’t eat that,” Vex said absently, as the bear pawed at one of the crates. 

Percy nodded, then turned to the two guards, who stood to attention. “Organize a search,” he said. “Can you send the word out, too, as you go? Tell any stragglers to get inside? Quickly, please, there’s no telling how much time left we’ve got.” 

The guards nodded, and sped off. “I’m sure Keyleth’ll make lots of noise if she spots the main force,” Vex said. “And I don’t care how fast this goblin is, none of them are going to outrun her when she’s in the sky—Trinket, I told you, there’s nothing to eat in there, stop that, you’re going to get a nose full of splinters.” 

The bear grunted, but ignored Vex, continuing to push aside some of the partly rotted wood. There was a crack in the wall behind the pile of crates, now that Percy looked. “Of course he’s looking for food while we’re under attack,” Scanlan grumbled, tail lashing. “Fuck, we don’t even know which way the little devil went! I can’t believe we lost it, the blasted—”

All at once, Trinket went entirely stiff, his occasional grunting replaced by a low, rumbling growl that seemed to vibrate through the very ground. 

…In fact, if he looked closely, the crack might just be big enough for someone very small to squeeze into, should they need to disappear from sight.

“…Good bear, Trinket,” said Vex, slowly. All four of them changed their stances; Grog stood, a grin splitting his face at the prospect of a return the hunt. Magic swirled around Scanlan’s fingertips, shimmering violet smoke beginning to form into fingers beneath him. Vex and Percy, unarmed, braced themselves. 

Trinket shoved his face into the crack as hard as he could, his jaws audibly snapping, only to then pull back with a roar, a thin line of blood dripping off his muzzle as he reared up. The goblin was a blur of shadows as it took the brief opportunity to zip past, narrowly avoiding the bear’s claws as he thudded back down onto the ground. Percy and Vex both lurched in an attempt to grab the goblin as it sped past, but it dodged away out of reach, narrowly darting under Grog’s axe by fractions of an inch and speeding past. Scanlan sprang up on Bigby’s hand, but the goblin had somehow gotten all the way past them, and was scrambling over a fence between two buildings. 

“If you think you’ll get away that easily, you’re in for a _shock!_ ” Scanlan shouted, magic crackling around his hand. Lightning slammed into where the goblin should have been, blasting a hole in the fence and setting it ablaze, but somehow, the goblin had shifted, narrowly avoiding what seemed like _all_ of the damage from the strike. With a panicked yelp, it disappeared over the fence, the sound of its retreating footsteps almost inaudible over the crackling flames. 

 

  


 

“Oh, no, you don’t!” Scanlan shouted, soaring on Bigby’s hand over the fence. With a bellow, Grog followed suit, knocking a hole in the fence with his axe rather than bothering with climbing over it. 

Vex moved to chase as well, but Percy grabbed her arm. “Vex,” he said, “Vex, we need to deal with things elsewhere—we don’t even have our weapons, there’s not much we can do, leave them to it.” 

With a frustrated noise, Vex tugged her arm away and gestured at Trinket, who was attempting to lick at the thin scratch across the bridge of his muzzle. “Look at your poor face, gods dammit—let’s just…go help where we can, I suppose,” she said. 

Another blast of magic burst audibly some distance away. “Sounds like they’ve got that one squared away without us, anyhow,” Percy muttered.

 

* * *

 

‘Nervous’ was not often a word applicable to the members of the Grey Hunt, but right now, anxiety lingered on all of their faces as they silently watched Vex’ahlia pace in front of them.Percy had joined some guards to investigate the storehouse, Scanlan and Grog were still off helping in the search for the main force of the goblins, Keyleth and Pike remained as they were, and Vex was doing some investigating of her own. 

Well, more of an _interrogation_ than an investigation. Percy had his way of seeking answers, and she had hers. 

“So,” she said, pausing, arms crossed. “Would any of you would like to explain to me how this happened, exactly?” 

The hunters looked at each other, and one spoke up. “My lady?” he said, and Vex felt cold fury rise within her at the tentative, yet genuine confusion in his voice. 

“The bloody goblins!” she snapped. “You all have one job, one _fucking_ job—to keep watch over the damned Patchwood. There should have been no way that we find out about goblins only when one breaks into a storeroom in the heart of the fucking city!” Several of the hunters cringed at the outburst. Was the guilt she saw sincere or imagined? Who cared, who cared, they _should_ feel guilty—“Why didn’t I hear any reports about goblin clan movements in the area? We should have heard about this before they reached the fucking farmlands, nevermind the center of town!” _It never should have gotten the chance to fool me into—_

“Lady Vex’ahlia,” said one of the hunters, holding out her hand. She was the only one who’d been around longer than Vex at this point, actually; she’d been a hunter even before the Briarwoods had come, and had helped her greatly with settling into the position of Grand Mistress. “My Lady, I understand that you’re worried—we all are, and with fair reason. However, I assure you, no one here would dare slack off under your watch. You’ve trained this lot well. If there were no reports of goblins in the area, it’s because none were observed, and we have observed the Patchwood as carefully as ever.” 

“There was a weird burst of magic a couple weeks ago, but all we found when we checked was a bunch of angry bluecoats,” one of the youngest hunters mumbled. 

“Aye, and that a fair distance from the city,” said the eldest of the hunters. Vex huffed, but took a deep breath. This was true—she’d remembered that report; she’d not been part of the team that investigated, but she knew that it had been handled carefully and turned out to be nothing. “I don’t know how these goblins got in, but we will find out how they slipped past us,” she continued. 

“See to it that you do,” Vex said, dismissing them with a frustrated wave of her hand. “If you can’t even find a bunch of bloody _goblins,_ then we’ve got a real problem on our hands.” 

As the Hunt dispersed, Vex pinched the bridge of her nose. Bloody _goblins,_ of all things to have to deal with—

Trinket nudged her arm and moaned softly. Absently, she patted the top of his head. “It’s alright, buddy,” she said, “it’s only goblins. Nothing we can’t handle. Just have to find the bloody things…” 

Shaking herself, she moved towards the tavern Pike had taken the kids to; they’d agreed over the earrings to meet up here again to compare notes in about ten minutes. Not that she’d have much to offer, just the word of a toddler and the news that the Hunt had apparently missed an entire tribe of goblins. Gods. 

What a nightmare. 

The others trickled toward the rendezvous point slowly, Pike coming first after Cassandra stopped by to pick up the kids and usher them all towards the castle. Percy joined them next, looking very thoughtful; Keyleth swooped down and landed next, her own face worried. 

“Did you catch sight of them?” Percy asked her. 

Keyleth shook her head. “That’s the weird thing,” she started, “I only—”

A loud, gruff stream of swearing cut her off, as Grog stomped up, Scanlan looking irritable at his side. 

“Little fuck got away again!” Grog griped, swinging his axe up to rest on one shoulder. “I nearly ‘ad it one second, and the next, it was just gone!” 

“It ran between your legs while you were busy overswinging,” Scanlan scowled. “And _then_ it disappeared.” 

“You didn’t even get the first goblin?” Pike asked, genuinely confused. Percy paused in whatever thoughts had him distracted long enough to fill Pike in on what she’d missed whilst guarding the kids.

 

  


 

“It was really fast, Pike!” Grog whined. 

“And very strange,” said Percy. “The storehouse was full of all kinds of food, albeit not as much as there was before winter, but there was plenty of dried meats, and none of it very well hidden. Yet as far as I can tell, this goblin was evidently only interested in a bunch of herbs, for some reason. The bags they’d been stored in had been ripped open, and there were scraps of them everywhere.” 

Scanlan gestured questioningly at Percy. “So it made a mess,” he said. “It’s a goblin. They do that.” 

“Yes, but what use do goblins have for cooking herbs?” 

“Maybe they’re getting tired of only putting salt and pepper on their grandma stew.”   
  
“Scanlan!” Pike hissed. 

Vex was barely processing most of the conversation, staring off into the distance and letting the words fly around her. The first goblin’s escape grated on her nerves. The thought of the little impost— _intruder_ getting away untouched burned her. Sweet Sarenrae, it was one bloody goblin, surely they could at least track it to wherever the rest were hiding? They’d all brought down a would-be god, but _goblins_ were giving them this much trouble?

“Well, Kiki, you can still point us toward the rest, right?” Grog’s hopeful voice brought her marginally back to the present. No doubt he was looking forward to the chance to fight something. For once, Vex found herself in similar shoes. 

“That’s what I was saying when you guys got here,” Keyleth said. “I scanned the whole city as best I could several times, but I only ever saw the one goblin. I don’t know if there _are_ any others here.” 

Scanlan rolled his eyes. “That’s ridiculous,” he said. “It’s never just one goblin, there’s got to be others!” 

“Well, I didn’t see any,” said Keyleth, leaning forward with a worried stare. 

“And you didn’t get distracted by anything?” Vex said. “Nothing caught in your eye?”

Keyleth looked hurt. “I was—I tried to be really thorough, and I’m telling you, there was only one goblin!” 

Vex sighed. She’d really meant to keep the scorn out of her voice, there. Keyleth didn’t deserve it, she was just—angry. “No, I’m sure you were, I’m sorry, darling. I’m just…stressed out.” 

“Did you at least see which way the first one went?” Scanlan asked. 

Keyleth shifted and shook her head. “I was searching a different part of the city when you two lost track of it, I think,” she said. “I’m really sorry, guys.” 

“Fuck’s sakes,” Grog growled, letting the head of his axe thump down. 

Scanlan scoffed. “Didn’t see where the first one went, didn’t see the others, maybe you were distracted! Were you paying attention at all?” 

“Scanlan,” Percy said, a warning in his voice. 

“Guys, hey, don’t do this now,” Pike cautioned. 

“Yes!” Keyleth snapped. “I didn’t fly up to just fuck around, guys, I was really searching hard! There was only one goblin, I’m sure of it!” said Keyleth. 

“It must have been a scout, then,” Vex said, rolling her eyes. “Right? It was very quick, and, Scanlan, you said before that it was a small one?” 

Scanlan shrugged. “Hard to tell under the cloak, but it seemed like it was on the small side for a goblin, yeah.” 

“And we found it where we keep the food. There you are, then, it must’ve been a scout,” Vex continued. “It was sent in ahead of the main force to find out where we keep everything, since it’s quick and good at disappearing, evidently. Explains everything.” 

“Almost everything,” said Percy. “Except for the herbs, which I still don’t get…” 

“Does it really matter why it was digging around through something weird?” Scanlan groaned. “It’s a goblin, Percy, who knows what it was thinking.” 

“…I suppose it probably doesn’t,” he said, still looking thoughtful. He shook his head. “Well, if this was a scout, then the main attack is yet to happen. We’ll have to ask everyone to do a head count on their families, check that their kids are safe, and brace to be hit at a later date…Probably tomorrow, now that I think about it. During a festival would be the time to attack. Although…whether or not the goblins actually know that we’re having a festival is another question entirely, but…regardless, we’d all best make sure we’re rested up tonight.” 

“The guards will probably have tracked the goblins down by next morning,” Vex said, waving her hand irritably. 

“Right, but if they don’t,” said Percy, “We’ll all want to make sure we’re at the top of our game. Anyone who can fight will need to be ready to defend those who can’t.” 

“We’re not…we’re not going through with the festival with goblins nearby, are we?” said Keyleth. 

Percy sighed. “I’ve been talking with the captain of the guard, and the guards have all been checking in with the townsfolk. A lot of the visitors are scared, but most of the residents are all of the opinion that they’re not about to take this without a fight. They’re determined to celebrate, whether we in charge like it or not, and plenty of people have already volunteered to act as a militia to help bolster defenses.” He shot Keyleth a tired grin. “Some of those old enough to remember the Briarwoods have been especially vocal about not hiding away from a threat, and I can’t find it in me to tell them they’re wrong.” His smile faded. “We’ll…just have to do the best we can, and hope they do track down and destroy the main force before it strikes.” 

Keyleth bit her lip. “I don’t like this,” she murmured. 

“Has anyone been reported missing?” Pike said. “That’s my first worry, that maybe these ones are sneaky enough to take people quietly, since they’ve avoided detection so far.” 

Percy shook his head. “Not everyone’s done a head count, mind you, but so far everyone seems to be accounted for.” 

“They better fuckin’ attack tomorrow,” Grog grumbled. “Got all worked up for a fight and then the fuckin’ goblin got away.” 

Pike patted his knee. “Aw, buddy,” she said, “We’ll find you somebody to spar with, I promise.” 

“It’s not the same,” Grog complained. “I was hopin’ for a proper fight and some killing and everything, and the stupid slippery little goblin got away!” 

“Well, maybe we can’t do any killing, but you and me can go visit Vasselheim soon, maybe, go defend our titles?” 

“…I guess,” Grog said, scuffing the ground. 

“Who knows, maybe the guards’ll miss a few and we’ll get to clean up the mess,” Scanlan muttered, darkly. 

“Yeah, maybe!” said Grog, beaming. 

Pike sighed.

“Whatever, let’s just—it’s getting late, let’s get inside and leave it to the guards,” said Vex, heading up the path. More to herself, she added, “Pelor willing, the Hunt will follow through on their fucking jobs and find the rest of the little devils while we’re all asleep.” 

 

* * *

Aside from a brief pause for Percy to fill the leader of the guard in on what they’d discussed, and to confirm that they were going to spend the night seeking out the invaders, the trip back to the castle was blessedly uneventful. After checking in on the kids (who were various levels of shaken, but all unharmed), filling Cassandra in, and getting themselves dinner, they all said their goodnights and headed to bed. 

It was while laying in bed, staring at nothing, that the storm Vex had been fighting for hours finally threatened to break. 

With the day’s stress behind her, grief threatened to overwhelm. It had been waiting in the wings all day, and she hated that it had come so easily, after so long, over something so stupid…She didn’t want to think about that now, she didn’t want to feel this, she was supposed to be _over it_ after twenty blasted years! 

Groaning softly, she rolled over on her side, as if the action would somehow physically force the old feelings away. It didn’t, but it did give her a view of her husband, framed in the soft glow of moonlight, the top buttons on his shirt undone, staring thoughtfully out the window over the city. He had that look about him, the one that spoke of wheels turning furiously behind his eyes, thoughts flying a mile a minute. No doubt, whatever was on his mind was eons more worthwhile than anything plaguing hers. Just about anything had to be more productive than getting worked up over old wounds.

“A copper for your thoughts, darling?” she said, shoving her grief and a stray pillow out of the way.

He shook his head. “I just…” he said, “I still can’t—I feel like we’re missing something. Something about the goblin’s behavior felt…off, in ways we can’t explain even by saying it’s probably a scout, I…”

Ugh. The fucking _goblins_ were the last thing she wanted to think about right now.

“ _Percy,_ ” she said, slipping out of bed, “It’s just goblins. It’s strange that it slipped past our defenses, sure, but we know it’s here now, and I’m sure the guards will have dealt with it by morning.”

He sighed. “I…you’re probably right, I know, but something just…I can’t explain it, but something just isn’t…” 

Padding on nearly silent feet, she crossed to him, pressing herself to his back and loosely wrapping his arms around him. “Everything’s a puzzle with you, lately,” she murmured, quietly reveling in the way she could feel tension leeching out of him at her touch. “Whatever strangeness there may be here doesn’t really change things, does it? Unusual goblins are still goblins, there’s no point in staying up all night thinking about it…”

Percy hummed, thoughtfully, leaning back slightly against him. 

A playful grin spread across her face. Slowly, with so little pressure as to feel almost like a ghost, she traced a finger down his arm, all the way down to where his own hand still clutched the windowsill, watching a trail of goosebumps break out behind her touch. “There’s so much more… _interesting_ ways we could spend our time, in any case,” she whispered, right next to his ear. Her grin widened as she felt him shiver. “Much more worthwhile uses for that scheming mind and those clever hands.” She let her fingers tangle with his. 

He swallowed, hard enough for her to hear, and she had to bury her mouth against the back of his neck to hold back a laugh. Twenty years, and it was still so easy to bring that clear flush to his cheeks, _gods_ she loved him so much. 

“I…suppose you’re right,” Percy said, curling his hand in hers. 

“Come to bed, darling,” she whispered, gently tugging him away from the window. Unresisting, he followed.

There’d be time to worry about goblins and old wounds later. For now, they were alone, spring was upon them, and there were far, far better uses for their time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the adventuring may be what gave percy the bad knees but any back issues are mostly vex's fault >:3c


	3. A Very Close Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> check the tags, they've been updated; watch out for some blood and violence this chapter, as well as references to canon character deaths 
> 
> anyway IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG BUT HEY ITS RLY LONG AT LEAST
> 
>  
> 
> also i didnt. edit this much i rly just wanted to get it out pls dont point out typos i doNT care at this point fkjgdhsf

The next day dawned bright and beautiful, full of sunlight and birdsong and a gentle breeze. What should have been a perfect day for the Spring Renewal festival was quickly soured, however, by a visibly exhausted guard dejectedly relaying the news that they still had no idea where the goblins were. 

There’d been a very tense early morning meeting with the town leaders and some particularly concerned visitors about what to do, one which Vex had felt particularly twitchy all through.She wasn’t alone in that much, at least; she could see various shades of nerves and anticipation across faces all around her, even hours later as she carefully patrolled the streets, the kids (all of whom save for Crispin had insisted on going out to the festival) staying close as they’d promised to (for now at least) and Trinket in his full armor bringing up the rear, ever watchful. 

The light but tangible weight of Fenthras in her hand was a small comfort as she waited for the other shoe to drop. This time, at least, she’d not be caught off guard. 

The day trudged on, each hour with nothing new making her feel more anxious. Her rounds and the whims of the excited kids had brought their group to the street outside the temple of Erathis, where she gave them permission to step away from her side for a while to play some of the games that had been set up along the sides of the road there, so long as they all stayed together and kept Trinket with them. 

She leaned herself up against the corner of a building, outwardly resting but inwardly on the highest of alert. Gods damn the blasted goblins, this was supposed to be a time to have some fun after the long winter, not—not all this. 

Worst of all, her thoughts kept straying back to that first encounter, and how easily she’d let herself think that—really, it was ridiculous, twenty years went by and the first time a vaguely sneaky stranger showed up, she immediately got her hopes up that somehow he’d be back and everything would go back to a normal that wasn’t _normal_ anymore. It was, she was…

She really wished the damn goblins would just attack already. At least then she could take out her frustration doing something productive, instead of being stuck here just waiting. 

All the while, as she thought, her eyes scanned the sparse crowd. Not as many folks were on this road, as most of the attractions would be in the main square, but it was about noon and even out here there was significant enough activity. Off to one side she spotted the three tabaxi from the day before, the one with tufted ears attracting quite a few eyes as he juggled and cajoled; the rust-colored one sat behind with their cart, his body slouched but his single eye and both ears on constant watch. A couple guards were gently escorting a drunken (judging by how heavily he leaned on the guards for support) beggar off of the steps of the temple. A farmer holding a pitchfork and keeping a watch of his own nodded to Vex as her gaze passed over him, whilst two children, likely his own, cheered as they won a prize from a ring-tossing game. 

Even with her senses on high alert, however, a human still seemed to almost melt out of the shadows. On a reflex, she jerked to grab an arrow, but relaxed on seeing that it was only Kynan. 

He cleared his throat with a nervous smile, still a touch hesitant after all these years. 

“Sorry, I’m a bit on edge,” Vex said, taking another moment to quickly scan for her children. They were crowded around a game of some sort, with Tiffany, too short to see over the counter, pouting and demanding to be told what was happening. All safe for now. 

“S’alright,” Kynan said. Then, growing more serious, he said, “Anything happened out here?” 

Vex shook her head. “It’s all been about as quiet as it can be, during a festival,” she said. “I don’t like it. Anything to report on your end?” 

In the two decades that had passed, Kynan had proved himself time and again as very capable, elevated to the council as of five years ago, in charge of law enforcement and wartime movements. He’d been very much on top of things in this particular conflict, for all the frustrations that had come up. 

Kynan shrugged. “Nothing violent,” he said, “But there’s been reports of thefts and a few people claiming to have spotted something.” 

Vex tapped her fingers restlessly against Fenthras. “Any patterns to the thefts? The first goblin was raiding our larder, after all.” 

“Not really. The odd coin here and there, a necklace, a child’s doll. Strangest things to have gone missing is probably a bunch of perfume, but other than that, nothing I’d think worth raising any real alarms over.” 

Vex raised an eyebrow. “I think we can safely say that one’s just some thief. What would goblins want with a bunch of perfume?” she asked, dubious.  
  
“What would they want with cooking herbs?” Kynan shot back.  
  
“Ugh, you sound like Percy,” she said, rolling her eyes. “And the sightings? What’s come out of those?” 

“Not so much goblins for sure,” he said, shifting his weight. “People are jumpy. We’ve been taking every report seriously, but every time it’s turned out to be someone in a green shirt, or a blanket hung out to dry that someone spotted out of the corner of their eye. OldJenkins reported that he saw a bunch of them at his trash last night, but that turned out to be a bunch of bears and a badger, which, uh, was pretty weird, but it wasn’t the goblins.” 

Vex blinked. “Well, at least we finally worked out what it is that he keeps seeing, I guess. The poor man’s always claiming some monsters are lurking around his house at night.” 

“Tiff?” Crispin’s half-panicked voice rang out over the crowd. Vex stiffened. “Tiffany!! Tiff, you’re supposed to stay close, where are—did anyone see where Tiffany went? I swear I only looked away for a second—” She could see him, drawing Arthur near him, looking frantically around and grabbing at someone’s shirt, could see Trinket rearing up on his hind legs to better see over everyone’s heads. 

It was probably fine, Tiffany wandered off sometimes, but now was the worst time to be doing so, gods. She didn’t blame Crispin for a second, not with four siblings to keep an eye on at once, but—fuck it, time to worry about that later, she exchanged a wordless nod with Kynan and stepped forward, looking around herself as Kynan melted into the crowd himself to search for the toddler. 

As seconds ticked by, and the little girl didn’t appear, Vex could feel panic welling up inside her, heard it matched by Crispin’s increasingly hoarse shouts. Where was she, where _was she,_ where—There! One of the passerby moved, and Vex spotted her daughter’s dress, saw Tiffany talking to a small, cloaked figure. 

One with tattered green ears. 

 

 

Her hand found an arrow in her quiver on pure instinct. In that same, slowed-down moment, she saw the goblin turn, spot her with those giant, animal eyes, and jerk forward toward Tiffany, reaching out with those terrible clawed fingers toward her daughter—

The arrow was pulled taught against Fenthras’s string as easy as breathing, and with the familiar woosh of wind, sang forward, aimed to take the goblin right through its chest. Time seemed to restart, sound roaring back in as Tiffany wailed, and Vex wasn’t sure if her arrow struck true. Someone screamed, and as the crowd all reacted at once to the goblin’s appearance, someone ran into Vex’s line of sight again as she tried to push forward. She spotted the goblin thrashing in the grip of the vines of the brambleshot, saw Tiffany on the ground, sitting up, howling, saw the goblin somehow manage to wrench itself free of the restraining grip and dash down the alley just as Vex finally got to her daughter. 

Fuck the goblin, she’d catch up to it later. 

“Tiffany, are you okay? I got you, I got you sweetie, come here,” she said, scooping the crying child into her arms. There didn’t look to be any wounds, thank Sarenrae, she didn’t look to be hurt anywhere, no doubt she was just startled by the shock of getting attacked like that. She’d have the little beast’s hide for this, how dare it lay a hand on her daughter, how dare it invade her city!

Trinket thundered up behind her, nudging her back with his nose as she held Tiffany close, shaking with an intense terror and fury. The bear’s touch brought her back into now. 

“Thank you, Trinket,” she said, softly, and then, louder, standing, she pointed down the alley, still hugging Tiffany tightly to her. “It went down that way! Go after it, I’ll be right behind you!” 

The bear grunted and raced off after his quarry. For the time being, however, she pulled back. Kynan and a guard were carefully guiding anyone unwilling or unable to fight into the temple of Erathis. She saw Leo, Trissa, and Arthur herded inside, but Crispin was hanging back, still calling out for his sister. 

Vex darted over, shoving Tiffany into his arms—she was still crying, but she was alive, that was what mattered, she didn’t look wounded, no time to freeze right now—and pushed him towards the temple entrance. “Go, get inside, now!” she barked, before running after Trinket. 

The trail was easy to follow, she noted with a grim satisfaction; she’d definitely landed a very good hit on the goblin, and a line of blood droplets clearly marked out where it had gone. The trail weaved back and forth, at one point evidently crashing into a corner; here, more blood had splashed down, too, and Vex spotted the back half of her arrow. No doubt the goblin had tried to remove it, and only managed to snap it in half. 

Rounding a few more corners, she found Trinket urgently pawing at a wall. Near its base was a cluster of droplets large enough to almost constitute a puddle, and on the wall itself, a few telltale four-fingered handprints were visible on a drainpipe. Vex looked up just in time to see a tail disappear over the roof. 

“Good job, Trinket,” she said, and then set about quickly climbing up herself, Trinket boosting her up as best he could. 

The goblin was there, cowering by a chimney and hastily wrapping something around the arrowhead, which Vex could see poking out of its shoulder. It heard her climb up, and with a yelp, disappeared around the chimney just as Vex managed to fire off another shot, the arrow shattering against the stone. She swore, and gave chase as the creature dropped off the other side of the roof, somehow catching itself one-handed on a window ledge to slow its fall. 

With a whistle, Vex directed Trinket to round the building while she scaled her own way down. The blood trail had been lessened significantly by whatever fabric the goblin had found, but Trinket had its scent now, there’d be no getting away this time. she’d teach the little beast to lay a claw on her daughter—

She didn’t consciously register that the trail was leading right toward the main square until she spotted the Sun Tree. Was there a bigger attack happening there? What else was happening? She couldn’t hear any sounds of a struggle from that direction. She’d lost sight of the blasted goblin, too; she could see people calmly going about their business, could see Percy talking to what must have been a group of visitors looking nervous.

Too late, she spotted the goblin streaking out of the shadows and straight for the big cluster of people talking to Percy. Vex shouted out a warning, but it was quickly drowned out by screams as the group split apart in a panic. People were fighting to get away, raising a small cloud of dust low to the ground, and stampeding in all directions. The chaos was too much for even Vex’s keen eyes to pierce, and by the time everyone had dispersed enough for her to get a good view, the goblin was nowhere to be seen. 

Furious, Vex gestured for Trinket to come with her as she raced in—not that she really needed to, the bear was hard on her heels. “Track it,” she said to Trinket, and then, to the crowd, “Which way did it go? Did anyone see?” 

“It poured something on the ground as it passed,” she heard Percy say, somewhere behind her, “I didn’t catch which way it ran, but what did—”

Trinket gave a pained bellow and shuffled backwards, pawing at his nose. As he did, as she turned, the smell hit her nose too; a clashing combination of powerful smells, largely floral and all incredibly strong. Unbidden, the memory sprang to mind of Kynan, just before, mentioning reports of stolen perfume, and realized—somehow, the blasted goblin must have been smart enough to realize it could be tracked by scent, and had worked out a way to make a, a scent bomb of sorts; the smell must have been so strong as to almost physically _hurt_ to poor trinket, and with it scattered everywhere from the onslaught of rushing feet as that crowd had split apart in a panic, that overwhelming smell would be _everywhere…_

There’d be no tracking it after this. Poor Trinket wasn’t going to be in a condition to be tracking anything after this sensory overload. 

It had gotten away again, the little bastard!

The scream that tore out of Vex’s throat at this realization was wholly involuntary. Not that she made any attempt to stop it—she swore, and raged, and tore at her hair, a useless font of angry energy with nothing to direct herself against until a pair of arms locked around her. It took her a moment to recognize them—Percy, trying to calm her. 

“Vex, Vex, it’s gone, we can’t get distracted running around after just one, we have to brace to protect civilians from the main attack,” he said, his arms tight around her as she struggled. “It might be trying to lead you into a trap, just let it run!” 

“It almost got Tiffany,” she gasped, and heard him take a sharp breath himself. “It nearly took Tiffany, Percy, I saw it try to grab her—I’ll fucking kill them, gods damn them, they almost—” 

“Oh, Gods,” he said, hoarse. “Is she—?”

“Crispin’s got her, it didn’t get her, but it was so close, Percy,” and she felt the anger fading into horrified tears, and hated herself for how powerless she was to stop them. 

“Fuck,” Percy whispered. 

 

* * *

The temple to Erathis was a chaotic hive of anxiety. Townsfolk and visitors alike crowded around some of the city leaders, all talking over each other in hysterics and demanding answers. Off by Trinket, as far out of the way as they could get, the kids (minus Tiffany) were talking amongst themselves, looking various shades of excited, bored, and, in Crispin’s face, pensive. Percy, for his part, was trying to help with this, but trying to calm down a horde of anxious townsfolk was hard enough without also trying to soothe a distressed toddler. Maybe it was for the best after all that Vex had insisted on rejoining the hunt for the creature; Percy’d been concerned and argued against it, with how distraught she’d been, but at this point, being left behind was starting to feel like the more stressful option. It took nearly two hours of himself, Cassandra, Keyleth, and some of the priests repeating themselves to regain some semblance of calm. No, we don’t know where they are, yes, we’ve got all the guards and a good number of volunteers out searching, no, no one’s been reported missing yet. 

(And what a close call that was—Gods, they’d almost lost Tiffany.)

Keyleth ducked out for a moment, saying she wanted to ask if the Sun Tree knew anything, and Percy, still juggling three very persistent worriers and a fussy child, just waved her off without really listening. He really wished Pike were here; she wasn’t a city leader anymore than Keyleth was, but she was so very good at making people feel more at ease. But she’d joined in the chase, along with Grog and Scanlan, of course. Trinket was the only other member of Vox Machina to stay behind, and that was on account of nursing an apparent headache. 

Mercifully, Cassandra ducked in and gently lifted Tiffany out of Percy’s arms, allowing him to spend a few minutes focusing on reassuring the last few stragglers. The rest had settled down into groups clustered about the pews, or had formed larger bands for the sake of safety in numbers before heading off to inns or homes. A sense of unease remained, but at least it was a quiet unease instead of the chaos of before. 

(He still kept an eye on Tiffany, even knowing she’d be perfectly safe with Cassandra. Even _hearing_ about how close she’d come to being taken had left him shaken. He couldn’t imagine what Vex must be going through, having seen it happen.) 

Finally, sending the last of the worrying folk on their way, he sat down on one of the few empty pews and took a moment to catch his breath and collect his thoughts. Hopefully, the searchers were making some sort of progress—it should not have been this difficult to track down and deal with a bunch of bloody goblins, for heaven’s sake.

The trick that one had used to deter Trinket fascinated him, despite how worried he felt. Somehow, the creature had known to concoct a scent powerful enough to cover up just about everything, and then to drop that scent right where a huge crowd of panicking people would spread it out very quickly, creating a sort of…olfactory smoke screen, and overloading the bear’s nose, to boot. That was a level of thinking he was not used to goblins being capable of. 

…Actually, that just made the whole mess more worrying. Trinket had only tracked down the one scout, yesterday, just for one brief instance, but that was enough apparently for the goblins to prepare ways to shake him off, and so quickly, too. Maybe that was why they were proving so hard to find; perhaps Whitestone had been unfortunate enough to attract a particularly shrewd set of goblins. 

It’d be right about average for this city’s luck, really. Ugh. 

He was shaken from his thoughts by someone plunking into the pew next to him—Keyleth, with the same more laid-back air she always seemed to have after her…conversations with the Sun Tree.

“Did you learn anything new?” he asked. 

“Um. No.” Keyleth ran a hand awkwardly through her hair. “He said he didn’t know anything, because he’s a tree. I mean, he did notice a goblin running around a few times, apparently, but only ever one at a time? Which I’m feeling pretty vindicated about, but I guess that doesn’t technically prove that there’s only ever been one goblin, but, still.” 

Percy ran a hand through his hair. “Would it know if they were hiding nearby?” 

Keyleth pulled a face. “Um. Probably? Maybe? He’s not super observant, honestly. But he definitely would know if a bunch of goblins passed through the main square at any point, and it seems like that hasn’t happened, so.” Then, looking at Percy’s face, she added, “I’m really sorry, Percy, I wish I could help with this more.” 

He shook his head. “No, it’s—everyone’s doing their best, it’s no one’s fault if there’s a few dead end leads. You were a huge help calming people down, anyway. We’re all frustrated and scared, is all. Thank you for trying.” 

“What about Tiff?” Keyleth asked. “Have you been able to calm her down enough to get anything out of her?” 

Percy was taken aback for a moment, and looked back towards Tiffany, still quiet in her brother’s arms. “She stopped crying finally, but I haven’t tried talking to her about it, no. I hadn’t really thought to. Keyleth, she’s _three._ She probably didn’t really understand what was happening.” 

“Yeah, but it’s still worth a shot, right?” said Keyleth. “I didn’t really think the Sun Tree was gonna know much either, and, I mean, he didn’t, but it won’t hurt to try. If she’s too scared to talk about it we won’t press her.” 

“Fair enough.” 

Tiffany was still sniffling when Percy took her back from Cassandra’s arms, but had stopped crying at last for the most part. As Percy held her and sat down, she rubbed one tiny fist over an eye and hiccuped. There were some mostly dried droplets of blood across the front of her dress, he noticed, but he had no doubt she’d been looked over very thoroughly and found uninjured. It must have been the goblin’s. 

He took a deep breath to steady himself at the thought of how close that had been, and forced a gentle smile. “How are—are you feeling better, Tiff, dear? I know that must have been really scary.” 

Tiffany nodded emphatically. “It was!!” she said, eyes wide. “I was jus’ talking to a, the shadow person I seed yesterday a few times, an’ they, an’ all the sudden they pushed me, an’ there were vines, and they were bleeding, an, an’ Mama was scared too!” 

Percy blinked, confused for a moment. Right, Tiffany was young enough that perhaps she didn’t realize that the goblin had been dangerous. The arrow had likely frightened her more than her actual attacker. “Right, well, in the future you should…maybe be a bit more cautious about going over to people you don’t know when they call you over.” 

“They didn’t do that, tho,” Tiffany sniffled. “They were just sorta hiding over by the wagon. But they—I saw them take a teapot, yesterday, an’ Mama said that, um, that we’d tell the shadow person that it’s not, it’s not nice to take teapots!! So I went to tell them that.” 

“That was really dangerous, Tiffany,” said Keyleth, leaning over. 

“Why?” 

“Because it was…” Keyleth chewed her lip. “Do you know what a goblin is, Tiffany?” 

Tiffany nodded. “They’re, um, there’s some in the stories Papa reads to me.” Before Keyleth or Percy could respond, though, Tiffany continued, “But, but they’re always mean an’ stupid, an’ the shadow person didn’t seem either of those things! They were just, um. They were really…um. They didn’t even notice me until I talked to them, and they, and they weren’t even interested in what I said about the teapot or anything, they kept looking all over the place instead! An’ they barely even said anything about the teapot, they just said a buncha other stuff.” 

Keyleth tilted her head, but said nothing beyond a quiet, “Huh.” 

Percy could think of a few reasons for the goblin to be distracted, and none of them were particularly good, but…perhaps they could work out more as to what the actual intentions of the invaders were, since Tiffany seemed so eager to talk about what had happened. Maybe he could get more of a bead on what sort of plan required goblins to steal herbs and, evidently, a teapot. Hesitantly, he asked, “What did the…the shadow person say to you?” 

Tiffany sniffled, and seemed to think for a moment. “Um. They asked if, if I saw a…a weird man.” 

That was…entirely unexpected. “…Did they? That’s…What do you mean by weird, Tiff?” 

“Um. They said, um, a guy in a…a guy wif a coat, an’, an’ he was messy, they said, an’ that he talked funny.” 

Percy looked across at Keyleth, who looked every bit as confused as he felt. 

“Did they say why they were looking for this man?” 

Tiffany shook her head. “Um! They also said the weird man was on the, was in front of the temple, but he was gone now! They wanted to know if I saw where he went, an’ I didn’t, an’ I said so.” 

“And then did the go-the shadow person ask you to lead them to him, or anything?” Keyleth said, sitting down next to Percy. It was exactly what Percy’d been meaning to ask next. It’d make the most sense—maybe the whole thing about some man was a ruse to draw the child away from the watchful eyes of the many armed adults in the area. 

“Nuh-uh,” said Tiffany. “They just sorta made a sad noise an’ then they, they said I shouldn’t talk to strangers wifout my parents around.” Percy couldn’t help but slowly turn to make eye contact with Keyleth as the toddler continued on, “An’ I said that my momma was real close so it was okay, an’ they said no it wasn’t, I shouldn’t be talking to them without a, um, an adult I trust, knowing that I’m talking to them. An’ then they asked where mama was, an’ looked around, and then they pushed me!!” 

 

  


 

That was…Hm. 

“…I mean. That’s. They weren’t wrong about all that, actually, that’s…very good advice, and I’m very conflicted about the fact that—you’re sure that’s what they said, Tiff?” Percy said, feeling completely lost. 

Tiffany gave a single, adamant nod. “Yeah!! An’ then they got hit by an arrow, an’ I got real scared, an’ everyone started screaming!” She sniffled. “Why’d they push me like that? We were jus’ talking, an’, an’ they seemed nice!” 

“It was…it was trying to grab you,” Percy said, but the words felt…wrong in his mouth, now. Suddenly, the puzzle pieces didn’t make sense. The gears that had looked to fit perfectly were entirely the wrong size, and it was entirely possible that what he’d thought to be a screw was instead a nail. What…what _were_ they dealing with, here? 

Keyleth shook her head. “I don’t know, Percy, this is getting weird…” She chewed her lip for a moment, and then, quietly, trying to keep Tiffany from hearing, she asked, “Is it—she is little, maybe she’s remembering wrong?” 

“It wouldn’t be like her to make something like this up,” Percy whispered back. “Leo or Trissa at her age, certainly, and in a few days she may have a very embellished version of things, but right after things happen, she tends to be pretty honest.” 

“It didn’t feel like a grab,” Tiffany pouted. “It felt like a push. I fell down on my butt afterwards an’ it hurt a lot.” 

Percy tried to imagine the scene with the new information. Tried to fit it in with what he knew about goblins, and kept hitting walls. It didn’t fit. So, then, maybe…

He tried looking at it again, but this time, instead of thinking of the individual as a typical goblin invader, he tried just…thinking about their actions in the context of a normal person. And in that context, things started to make sense. They’d been going about their business when a very chatty, particularly bold toddler had demanded their attention. And then they’d…well, he still couldn’t quite make sense of looking for some strange man, but at the very least it told him that Tiffany’s shadow person had something on their mind. 

The advice about strangers made a lot more sense, this way; they were very much busy and distracted and likely didn’t have time to be talking to a small child. They’d told her off a bit, and then looked around for the child’s parents. Perfectly normal behavior for someone who wasn’t seeking to kidnap and devour any small child they could get their hands on.

And then…

“So you told this person that Mama was near?” Percy said, to be sure. Tiffany nodded. “And then they looked around to find her…” 

…And would have seen an arrow pointed in their direction, wouldn’t they. Ha. Now he was starting to see how the gears were meant to fit together.

It was a bit of a crazy theory, probably. But the truth was, so far, no one had really been attacked, except for perhaps Trinket a couple of times, and both were justifiably self defense. If Tiffany was right in her understanding of what had happened today, then…

“Keyleth,” Percy said slowly, “You don’t suppose it might have been trying to push Tiffany out of the way?” 

“Of what?” Keyleth asked, but before he could answer, another commotion broke out. The goblin hunters were back, it seemed. And judging by the grim looks on their faces, they’d been unsuccessful again. 

He ought to have been worried by that, but in the moment, his mind was buzzing. He felt at once like he’d worked out the shape of the thing and like he knew less than ever—there were so many pieces that were missing, ones that he didn’t even know how to START with, but even so, it was an explanation that felt like it _fit._ He needed to tell Vex, she’d be thrilled to hear there was some sort of lead on all this. 

Somehow, Keyleth managed to get ahead of him, getting caught up in the knot of people forming around Vox Machina. Percy, with Tiffany still in his arms, couldn’t break through the crowd, but after a couple minutes of worried folk clamouring for news and Grog’s voice booming out his disappointment above it all, he saw Vex push her way out of the throng and make a beeline towards him. 

The rest of the kids, who’d been off in a corner with Trinket, ran up as well, gathering in close as Vex took Tiffany from Percy and held her tight to her chest. There was a heartbreaking tension around her face, accompanied by the kind of exhaustion that comes only from great stretches of stress. 

“Did you beat the bad guys, Mama?” Arthur demanded, tugging on Vex’s tunic. Before she could respond, Trissa and Leo both tried to shout over each, asking for details just as loudly. 

Crispin had been unusually quiet and withdrawn for quite some time, and now, whatever dam had been holding him back finally broke, the boy nearly in tears as his voice shook. “Mom, I’m so sorry,” he said, frantic, “I was—Trissa and Arthur were arguing, and Leo kept screaming that he was hungry, and I think Trinket was distracted by something else, and I—I’m so sorry, there was so much, I swear I only let her out of my sight for a couple minutes!” 

“Kids, stop—Hold on just a second, please!” Vex chided the three middle children. One arm still firmly holding onto Tiffany, Vex stretched out a hand and gently but firmly made Crispin look at her. “Darling, listen to me,” she said, “You didn’t do anything wrong here, alright? A lot happened very quickly, I’m not angry and this isn’t your fault.” 

“I’ll try and pay more attention next time, I swear—”

“You did your best,” Percy said, drawing Crispin in close and pressing a kiss to his temple. “Tiffany’s alive, and she isn’t hurt, it’s alright.” 

“Yeah, but did you kill them?” Leo piped up. 

“No, damn them,” Vex spat. “Couldn’t find hide nor hair of the little—ugh.” 

“Aw, what?” Trissa complained. Crispin somehow managed to look even more distressed.

Percy, sensing a potential storm brewing if the conversation continued as it was—Trissa and Crispin would get into an argument over just about anything these days, with Leo egging the former on, and that was the last thing they needed right now—quickly stepped in. “Alright, kids, your mother and I need to talk privately for a moment. You can hear more about how things went later,” he continued over the loud whines of complaint from Arthur, Leo, and Trissa. “For now, just—One of you take Tiff and just…wait over by Trinket, won’t you?” 

Thankfully, they did as they were told, albeit with a lot more complaining from most of them. Crispin took Tiffany with a nod, and helped push the rest to follow Percy’s instructions. As they left, Percy heard Trissa say, “You don’t have to be such a goodie two-shoes about it, Crispin,” and let out a deep sigh. 

“I’m really starting to worry, Percy,” Vex said, falling heavily back onto a nearby pew and burying half her face in one hand. “The goblins have somehow managed to completely _disappear,_ they shouldn’t be able to just up and vanish like this, and I hate not knowing where or when they’re going to turn up next! By some miracle, no one appears to have been hurt or killed yet, but it’s only a matter of time.” 

“Maybe not,” said Percy, sitting next to her. She turned a tired eye towards him. “Keyleth and I talked to Tiffany about what happened, and it’s got me thinking. I know it’s a bit out there, but honestly, what she described didn’t feel like an invader at all, so much as just another visitor to the festival. She certainly never felt that she was in any danger—”

“Percy,” said Vex, but Percy didn’t stop. 

“And, if anything, it sounded like the goblin was trying to push her out of danger rather than attack her. And if _that’s_ the case, then it would follow that we may not be in danger at _all,_ that we’re actually dealing with a, a harmless group of goblins. Which would go a very long way in explaining a lot of the weirdness that’s been—”

_“Percival!”_

Any further elaboration he might have had lined up died in his throat when faced with the hardness in Vex’s eyes. “I’d say that you can’t be serious, but I’d sincerely hate to think you’d make such a thoughtless joke in a time like this,” she said. “They’re _goblins,_ Percival, of course we’re in danger! _One of them tried to take our daughter!”_

Some other eyes in the temple were looking at them, he noticed out of the corner of his eye. They weren’t quite in a full on shouting match, but Vex wasn’t trying to be quiet, either. He swallowed. “I mean, Tiffany was very sure that—”

“Tiffany is three years old!” Vex hissed. “She probably didn’t understand what was happening! You can’t go basing an entire insane theory on the word of a toddler!” She pressed her face into her hand again. “Gods, Percival, not everything is some bloody puzzle that needs working out, sometimes things just are what they seem on face value! People’s lives are at stake and we can’t afford to risk calling off our defenses based on a complete fantasy!” 

“Well, but, I…” 

“Well, why don’t _you_ fight them, then, Mr. I Know How To Use A Big Pointy Stick?” 

“Yeah, you’re the one with sword lessons, why don’t you use them, you big chicken?” 

Vex and Percy’s heads both turned towards their kids at the rising sounds of Trissa and Leo’s voices. Gods, if they were egging on Crispin again—yep, sure enough, Crispin and Trissa had their eyes locked, Leo at her back adding on to whatever she said. 

“There’s a world of difference between sparring with Aunt Cass or whatever guard’s on break and being in an actual fight, Trissa!” Crispin shot back. 

“Oh, like you’d know,” Trissa said, rolling her eyes. “I don’t know even know how you’re my brother, sometimes. How’d Mom and Dad have such a big coward?” 

“You want me to end up like our uncle?!” Crispin snapped, and Percy felt Vex tense beside him. “Or did you forget about what happened to him? Our parents weren’t living out some fantasy in a book, they were fighting for their fucking lives, and two of them didn’t survive!” 

“Mom and Dad did!” Leo said. 

“No they fucking didn’t, they just got lucky and were able to come back!” 

Percy swore under his breath and got out of his seat, heading toward the kids. He could feel Vex doing the same.

“They all died, the whole group, at least once!” Crispin went on, “I’m pretty sure Mom and Dad both went down _twice!_ And resurrection ceremonies aren’t a guarantee! I’m pretty sure they were just really fucking lucky—I _know_ you know this, Trissa, you can’t just ignore it! All of them, Mom, Dad, fuck, something even managed to kill _Grog,_ and they were all well fucking trained fighters, what the hell are we supposed to do?!” 

Arthur started to wail. 

“Stop it right now!” Vex said, getting ahead of Percy and planting herself right in the middle of the three arguing children. Percy knelt down and drew Arthur close to him. Tiffany didn’t look like she’d really understand any of what had been said, thankfully—they’d been careful to wait until each kid was old enough to handle it before telling them certain parts of the stories of Vox Machina’s exploits, and neither of the two youngest had been let in on the details Crispin had just laid out. 

Judging by the stricken look on his face, Crispin was well aware of his mistake. The boy stammered an apology, but Vex waved it off and turned toward Trissa and Leo. 

“Your brother’s right about one thing, neither of you two are anywhere near ready for a real fight,” Vex said, “Especially if you can’t even recognize that this is not the time or place to be fighting amongst yourselves.” 

“But Mom, Crispin—”

“Is trying to protect you, like a good brother, and I’ll not have you antagonizing him over it.” 

“We can—” Leo piped up. 

“No. We’re going home.” A cry of complaint started, but was instantly cut short by a single look from Vex. “All you’ve accomplished with this is scaring your little brother, and you’re going to march back _quietly_ and really think about what you’ve done, do you understand?” 

Arthur, at least, was calming down into sniffles rather than outright sobbing. Percy kept trying to soothe the boy, unable to bring himself to look at Vex until he felt her hand on his shoulder. 

“Did you hear me, Percy?” she said, her voice softer than it had been, but not much. “I’m taking the kids and Trinket back up. Are you staying down here?” 

Percy swallowed. “Um, yes, I think I…there’s so much to do, you know.” 

“I’m not angry at you, you understand that, right?” she said. “I just…I’d love for everything to secretly be fine, too, Percy, but it’s just not feasible. I know what I saw.” 

“…Of course,” he said, standing. “Travel safe, all of you. I’ll see you tonight.” 

He kissed his wife on the cheek, and stood by, quietly reeling as the rest of his family walked away.

 

* * *

 

It was funny how many things one could find to do when they were definitely procrastinating. Percy managed to busy himself until the sun had begun to set, helping out with arranging things, answering questions, doing whatever he could think of to keep busy. But as the last few people started heading to beds, and guards started up the first of the evening patrols that had been agreed upon for the time being, Percy begrudgingly had to accept that it was probably time to head home. 

He’d thought that maybe his theory was a bit far fetched, sure, but he’d not been ready to be so thoroughly shut down for it. Normally that only happened when he was being dangerously stupid, which—well, alright, the town was in danger, fair. 

Maybe it really was overly optimistic. It would be so much easier if this was all just a misunderstanding. 

“Hey, Percy!” Keyleth’s voice right behind him nearly made him stumble, so sudden did it seem. “What’s up? I’ve been trying to get your attention for like half a minute,” she said, moving up to keep pace with him. 

“Sorry, I’m just…distracted, I suppose.” 

“…By the argument with Vex?” Keyleth said, and Percy winced. “Sorry,” she added. “Don’t mean to, um, rub dirt in the wound or anything, I just—things seemed tense.” 

“It’s…my fault, probably,” he said. “She’s got every right to be stressed out, anyway. It’s been a bloody stressful day.” 

“Yeah.” 

A comfortable, if slightly awkward silence stretched between them for a few moments, as they walked. Eventually, Keyleth broke it by asking, “Hey, what were you saying before, anyway?” 

“Hm?” 

“When we were talking to Tiffany,” Keyleth said. “You were about to say something, and then we got interrupted. It’s been bugging me all day!”

“Oh, it was—I—it was nothing, Keyleth,” he said, hurriedly. 

“It didn’t sound like something,” she pressed. “It sounded like you were onto something! Come on, what was it?” 

“A lot of wishful thinking, apparently,” Percy mumbled. 

“About what? Come on, this whole thing’s super weird.” 

“You’ll laugh.” 

“Promise I won’t?” 

Percy looked sideways at her. She had that earnest look about her that was so very Keyleth, the one that meant she wasn’t going to give up on this. He sighed. 

“Alright, alright, fine. I had a…theory, of sorts, that was forming. One which Vex very quickly pointed out the holes in,” he said, taking off his glasses for a moment to nervously clean them.

“Oh?” Yeah, he should’ve known that dropping that hint wouldn’t stop her from pushing on. 

“It’s…I was thinking at the time that maybe the goblin pushed Tiffany because it saw the arrow pointed at the both of them and wanted to get her out of the way,” he said, feeling a fool for even saying it aloud again. He slipped his glasses back on, adjusted them on his nose, looking away from Keyleth as he continued, “And following from that, that maybe we’re not dealing with anything malicious. Which is…”

“Makes sense to me,” said Keyleth. “I’m not seeing the problem here, yet.”

Percy felt his jaw drop as his head involuntarily snapped to look at her. 

Nope, no humor to her expression, just more of that sincerity. 

“That’d explain what it said about strangers, too, actually,” Keyleth said, “because if it cared enough about her safety to try and push her out of the way, it’d wanna make sure she’s with her parents, too, right? Yeah! Yeah, that makes a lot of sense! Plus, no one’s gotten hurt at all, yet, and with this many vulnerable people here that’s _super_ weird!” 

“I—but—Keyleth, the idea of an entire tribe of goblins randomly showing up who just happen to be quite possibly the one single tribe of nonviolent goblins is—it’s patently ridiculous!” he stammered. Yet, at the same time, part of him felt vindicated—Keyleth may have been a bit foolish at times, but she was far from stupid, and their years traveling together had brought her much more down to earth. If she thought that he might be on to something…

“I mean, with the stuff we’ve all seen together, friendly goblins doesn’t sound all that weird,” she said with a grin. “But, consider this: maybe it’s not a whole tribe!” 

“…Oh?” 

“Sun Tree’s only ever seen one, _I’ve_ only ever seen one, has anyone so far reported seeing more than one at a time? I mean, like, any reports that we’ve been able to confirm? I know there’s been a ton of false alarms, but. Actual, for sure sightings.” 

“…Now that you mention it, no, not to my knowledge,” Percy said, feeling the gears start turning again. 

Keyleth’s smile widened. “Right! And I really was searching the whole city yesterday, too, so I had a really wide view! It might be that it’s just the one that’s here, and it’s a nice one on its own, right? I didn’t get a good look at it the second time, but do you think it might be the same one?” 

“I…didn’t get a good look at the one from today,” Percy said. “It ran by very quickly. Although…that in itself might be a sign it’s the same one. The one Vex found in the storeroom was very fast.” 

“Okay, so, there’s your theory!” Keyleth said, bouncing on her feet a bit. “We’re just dealing with one goblin on its own that might not want to hurt anyone!” 

“Which still doesn’t answer what it _is_ doing here,” Percy said. “We’ve possibly explained what it _hasn’t_ done, and that’s a start. But no matter how I go about it, I haven’t been able to make everything it _has_ done make sense.” 

“So maybe next time we see it we just try talking to it?” said Keyleth. “Although that…might be harder now. Vex apparently shot it with Fenthras.” 

Percy winced. “Oh, Gods,” he said, “no wonder the thing tore past like a bat out of hell, then.” 

“Speaking of Vex, though, it’s super weird that she got mad at you for suggesting this,” said Keyleth. 

Percy shrugged. “I don’t know, Keyleth,” he said, “she’s really very certain that she saw the goblin attack our daughter. I’d be pretty peeved in her shoes, too. Honestly, I’m not even entirely convinced that she was wrong. There’s no real proof for this, it’s just one possible explanation. It may well be that we’ve only seen a couple scouts.” 

“I guess,” said Keyleth, frowning, “But normally I feel like she’d…consider it.” 

Percy stopped. Keyleth followed suit, looking at him intently as he thought. “Now that you mention it, she really didn’t even hear me out all the way. I’d hardly started explaining when she just…shut me down.” His own frown deepened. “She didn’t want to talk about the possibility of the goblins being unusual yesterday, either, and I’d not even considered that they might not be attacking at that point. You…you don’t suppose there’s something wrong, do you?” 

Keyleth chewed her thumbnail for a moment. “She has been acting kinda weird since she saw the goblin,” she said. 

“I…just attributed that to stress over the situation.” Percy folded his arms. 

“Yeah, but I mean, even for that, she’s been…off.” 

“Hm. I’ll…I might try talking to her, tomorrow, if I can,” he said. Then he allowed himself a smile. “Regardless, thank you for…taking me seriously on this, I suppose.” 

She beamed. “No problem!” she said. “We probably shouldn’t bring this up with the others until we’ve got a little more proof, though, huh? Vex might, uh, not be the only one who reacts…badly…to the suggestion.”

“Scanlan.” 

“I’m talking about Scanlan, yes.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey fun fact i rolled out the damage of that hit for funsies; taking into account nott's very recent level up hit points and going w/ average hp boost for level 8 (which is where she's at for this fic), her max would be 63. that one hit from vex dropped her down to 26. 
> 
> and that's WITH uncanny dodge


End file.
